These last years, a new class of proteins involved in the regulation of gene expression has been unraveled besides such classical elements as polymerases, transcription factors or enhancers, directly responsible for gene expression. This class introduces a second order level of regulation which is superimposed on that of the standard regulators and is revealed by epigenetic modifications.
One end of this group is occupied by the so-called gene insulators such as CTCF that organize the action of the standard regulators and of invasive chromatin in order to limit and target their action to a specific gene or genetic entity.
At the other end, one would find the proteins operating at the level of the whole genome and of cellular programming, such as SATB1.
They are specific proteins nearly totally dedicated to organization and coordination of gene expression, like CTCF, or proteins also found involved in other cellular devices, like transcription factors extracted from the transcriptional machinery , such as TFIIIC, or proteins involved in sister
chromatid cohesion, like cohesin. But they share in common to generally act over long distances or between chromosomes, to structure a true intra- or inter-chromosomal genomic architecture, and to mainly act at the epigenetic level.
Their role in the control of gene expression is certified by the increasing number of pathologies to which their dysfunction contributes.
These last years, a new class of proteins involved in the regulation of gene expression has been unraveled besides such classical elements as polymerases, transcription factors or enhancers, directly responsible for gene expression. This class introduces a second order level of regulation which is superimposed on that of the standard regulators and is revealed by epigenetic modifications.
One end of this group is occupied by the so-called gene insulators such as CTCF that organize the action of the standard regulators and of invasive chromatin in order to limit and target their action to a specific gene or genetic entity.
At the other end, one would find the proteins operating at the level of the whole genome and of cellular programming, such as SATB1.
They are specific proteins nearly totally dedicated to organization and coordination of gene expression, like CTCF, or proteins also found involved in other cellular devices, like transcription factors extracted from the transcriptional machinery , such as TFIIIC, or proteins involved in sister
chromatid cohesion, like cohesin. But they share in common to generally act over long distances or between chromosomes, to structure a true intra- or inter-chromosomal genomic architecture, and to mainly act at the epigenetic level.
Their role in the control of gene expression is certified by the increasing number of pathologies to which their dysfunction contributes.
